October 22/05 9:51 am - London Track Six Day Racing

Posted by Editoress on 10/22/05

London Track Six Day - Day 1Courtesy Rob Good

Night one is in the books for the first night of the London 6 Day bike race at the Forest City Velodrome in London Ontario.

5 teams lined up for introductions before the first Madison of the night. The crowd cheered for the local London team of Jean Bertrand & John Craig Jr. The teams got ready for the first 6 Day Team race in Ontario in over 35 years. It seemed that a couple of the teams were a little nervous at the start, however the nerves quickly went away as the Madison began and the speed immediately went to 50 kph.

The first few exchanges were a little messy, but they cleaned up very fast as the first sprint approached. Points are accumulated by each team, with sprint events & Devils mixed into the Madisons throughout the evening.

The finish of the first of three Madisons was won by the Red Team of Adam Thuss and Rob Good to take the points lead.

In the second Madison the teams were starting to get the idea that the Red Team had to be attacked to wear them down. Coming up to the middle of therace the teams prepared for the Devil ( Miss & Out), the Orange team of Vince Dejong & Eric Robertson attacked with only a few laps to go before the Devil, that strategy did not work as the warning lights came on so the Jam had to stop and the race came back together. At the final sprint of the 2nd Madison it was the Blue team of Taylor Martin & Garnett Abbey who went on the attack only to be reeled in by the fast closing Green team of Keith Thoraranson & Dave St. James. with the Green team taking the honors by a 1/4 of a wheel.

The third and final Madison of the night, had the Red Team in first place with the rest of the teams very close behind. Only a few points separated the 5th place from the 1st place teams.

As it turned out the Teams were very evenly matched throughout the night of racing, with just a few missed exchanges separating the riders.

With 5 laps to go in the final sprint, a major attack was launched by the Orange Team who outdueled the Yellow Team of Jean "Bermuda" Bertrand & John Craig Jr. They caught 2 teams sleeping and quickly had a gap. In the closing 2 laps the Yellow Team came over the Orange Team to take the final Double Points sprint.

Great night of racing, very close and very fast. The teams will have to recover for Night #2 on Saturday. Full results can be found at ww.ForestCityVelodrome.ca

Racing begins at 7pm on Saturday evening.

Just a reminder that at the end of the 1st Madison on Saturday there will be a "surprise" Birthday celebration for 87 year old Albert Coulier who is responsible for getting the Forest City Velodrome off the ground last January.